Method for single workflow for multi-platform mobile application creation and delivery

ABSTRACT

A high-level functionality generates a Data Model which is used to automatically generate Applications comprising Application Clients, Application Servers, Client-Server Protocols, Dashboards and other components. These Applications are derived for different mobile and non-mobile&#39;s Operating Systems. This functionality uses Services, Service Representation, Application Flow, Rules, and Presentation Attributes. The input for the automation is a very high-level, “service” level “language,” from which all parts are automatically generated. The output of the automation also includes a way to validate the correctness of the generated Applications. The generated Dashboard provide a Business Entity with functionality to continuously update the generated Data Model based on the Services and Business Entity data, and from the updated Data Model automatically generate updated versions of the Application. The functionality may be a graphical representation, a set of forms, a set of policies, or a set of values associated to a set of pre-defined parameters.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/833,669, filed on Mar. 15, 2013, which has been incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to the co-filed U.S. applicationsSer. No. 13/833,589 entitled “Apparatus for Single Workflow forMulti-Platform Mobile Application Creation and Delivery” , Ser. No.13/833,775 entitled “Dynamic User Interface Delivery System”, Ser. No.13/833,849 entitled “User Interface and Content Translation System” andSer. No. 13/834,765 entitled “Hierarchical Application Client System”,filed on Mar. 15, 2013, which are assigned to the same assignee as thepresent application and invented by the same inventors as the presentapplication and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The internet is a communication system that interconnects the world. Theinternet has been structured to provide connectivity to billions ofusers with laptops, notebooks, desktops, TV set, cellular phones,smartphones like the iPhone™, Android™ and Blackberry™, and tablets. Theinternet 1-3 connects a client device 1-2 to a server 1-4 and the serverto the same client device as illustrated in 1-1 of FIG. 1A or to anotherclient (not illustrated). The client 1-2 can have at least one displayscreen 1-8 that can be a touch sensitive screen, pen based or both. Thescreen can display various icons or be attached to a physical keypad1-9. As illustrated in 1-1 some of the Client Devices can be mobileunits such as cellular phones and smartphones, wearable devices,tablets, laptops, desktops and Internet-enabled TV sets. The ClientDevices are physical and can be either mobile (cellular phones,smartphones, wearable devices, and tablets) or non-mobile (laptops,desktops, and TV sets), and coupled to the internet by wired (a physicalinterconnect), wirelessly (waves through space), or both wired /wirelessnetworks. The wireless connectivity can be cellular (3G, 4G, etc.),Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiMax, etc. The Client Device 1-2 has the ApplicationClient which is the actual application software running on device.

The Cloud uses the network of the internet to offer services to users byusing a combination of hardware and software embedded in the network.For example, Adobe^(TM) and Microsoft^(TM) offer the ability of usingtheir software programs via the Cloud, while other companies offerstorage capabilities via the Cloud to their customers. An ApplicationClient can be in the Cloud, but in this case the Client Device is a“virtual” Client Device. The “virtual” Client Device has a way toprovide access to the Application Client running in the cloud via aphysical Client Device. For example, as in the example listed in 1-5 ofFIG. 1B, a web browser 1-6 running on the physical Client Device 1-2 andcoupled to the client/server 1-7 in the Cloud via the Internet accessesthe Application Client running in the Cloud, which performs the actualapplication software. For the Cloud, there are two cases: the entireApplication Client runs in the Cloud, or a small portion of theApplication Client runs on a physical Client Device while most of thelogic runs in the Cloud.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system 2-1 with the hardware 2-16 and software2-15 of a Client Device 1-2. The Client Device 1-2 is coupled to theinternet 1-3 via wireline connection or Radio Frequency (RF) wirelesstransmission network (wired/wireless) 2-2 and further coupled to a bankof servers 2-4 via a second interconnection 2-3 that can be wired orwireless. The communication link is a receiver and a transmitter knownas a transceiver and is coupled to either a wired connector or anantenna (not illustrated) for the wireline connection or RF wirelesstransmission network, respectively. In general, these links: wired,wireless, cellular, internet, etc. are called the Communication network.The Communication network couples all components together. The server'sbank 2-4 comprises server-0 2-11 to server-N 2-12. The bank contains atleast one server and these servers can be localized, coupled by anIntranet, or be physically separated from one another, coupled by theInternet. The operating system (OS) 2-13 is closely coupled with thehardware 2-16, especially in case of Mobile Client Devices 1-2. Thehardware 2-16 comprises a processor 2-5 operating under the operatingsystem 2-13. The processor 2-5 is coupled to the memory 2-7 andcommunication link 2-9 via the bus 2-8. The communication link 2-9couples the Client Device to the outside world through a wired and/orwireless interconnection via the transceiver. One mode of input to theClient Device 1-2 is via the touch based keypad 2-6 or through voicecontrol (not illustrated). Other hardware components such as memory,power supplies, etc. are not mentioned but as well-known by thoseskilled in the art. The screen 2-10 can provide an output response orsound can provide a second mode of output known as voice output (notillustrated). The screen 2-10 can be a touch sensitive screen andprovide a second mode of input. A set of applications or ApplicationClients 2-14 are coupled to the operating system 2-13. The Client Deviceis one of a plurality of Client Devices coupled to the Internet.

FIG. 2B illustrates that when the term server 2-20 is used, this serveris a sub-set representation of a Computer hardware 2-17, which cancontain software 2-18, a database 2-19 and the server 2-20 itself. Othercomponents not illustrated are the memory, power supply, etc. Oneskilled in the art would know the other components contained in thisdevice and will not be described further. All servers used in thisspecification are substantially the same as the server 2-20.Furthermore, a plurality of Servers and a plurality of Databases can beembedded in the Computer hardware 2-17.

The term “Application Client” refers to the portion of the applicationrunning on the Client Device. Although “Mobile Application” issynonymous with “Application Client,” the term “Application Client”encompasses the Application Client running on a mobile device, anon-mobile device or even in the Cloud. The Cloud can run a portion ofthe Application Client in the server while the remaining portion of theApplication Client can run on the client, simultaneously. In thisregard, the server becomes a client/server system within the network.

An approval process in the Application Store is illustrated in FIG. 3. Aclient 1-2 desires a particular application 3-1. The application 3-1 issubmitted 3-2 to the Application Store for an approval process 3-3. Ifaccepted 3-4, information is passed to the Application Store 3-5 toallow the application (APP) to be downloaded 3-6 into the client 1-2.The client now contains a “native” application coupled to the operatingsystem 2-13 (see FIG. 2A) of the Client Device which was provided by theApplication Store 3-5. The Native Mobile Application Client executabledepends on the operating system (OS) as an iPhone would require adifferent executable than an Android™ phone.

FIG. 4 presents two different layered stacks of the hardware/softwarerepresentation for a Client Device. The iPhone, Android or Blackberryphone stack 4-2, for example, consists of hardware 2-16, OperatingSystem (OS) 2-13 and the Native Application Client 4-5. The NativeApplication Client is currently unalterable. Once the application isdownloaded and if the user of the Client Device 1-2 desires a featurechange in the Native Application Client, the user must go back to theapplication store (see 3-5 in FIG. 3) and download an updated version ofthe application that has this change implemented. This can take asignificant amount of time to get the new Native Application Clientsince the updated application needs to be developed, re-submitted to theapplication store, and re-approved by the application store. Theapplication store expends funds to re-approve the new executable and theapproval process may take considerable time. Once accepted, the storemust distribute the new Native Application Client to the Client Device.The second layered stack 4-3 comprises a non-Native Application Client4-1 which has an executable based on a programming language that isunderstood by a web browser running on the Client Device. The mostcommon example of such a language is HTML5. The application clientwritten in HTML5 does not depend on the OS 2-13 but instead runs on thebrowser 4-4 of the Client Device 1-2. The browser 4-4 may depend on theClient Device 1-2, but the non-Native Application Client 4-1 does notdepend on the Client Device 1-2.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The term “Application Client” encompasses the Application Client runningon a mobile device, a non-mobile device or even in the Cloud. However,in some cases, within this document the term “Mobile Application Client”will be used for both Native and non-Native Application Clients runningon Mobile Devices, but it also applies to Devices that are Non-Mobile orin the Cloud. In addition, the term “Client Device” encompasses thedevice being Mobile, Non-Mobile or located in the Cloud. However, insome cases, for further distinction within this document the term“Mobile Client Device” will be used for mobile devices, “Non-MobileClient Device” will be used for non-mobile devices and “Cloud ClientDevice” will be used for the device formed in the Cloud. Finally, theSystem Solution offers the ownership, control and beneficial use ofthese inventive ideas.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is a method to generateApplication Clients, Application Server software, client-server protocoland dashboards from a single high-level representation of functionality.The Application Clients operate on a mobile device such as a cellularphone, a smartphone, a wearable device, or a tablet, a non-mobile devicesuch as a desktop, a laptop, or an Internet-enabled TV set. TheApplication Server software runs on a server residing in the network orin the cloud. The client and server communicate via a client-serverprotocol. Executables can be derived for different mobile device's OS'sfrom the same high-level representation of the client-serverfunctionality. The representation of the functionality may be agraphical representation, a policy, or a set of values associated to aset of pre-defined parameters. The high-level functionality is turnedinto a Data Model and from the Data Model all the parts are derived. Theembodiment uses Services, Service Representation, Data Model, ServerFunctional Blocks, Client Functional Blocks, Basic Messages, ApplicationFlow and Rules. The input for the automation is very high level and isan innovative embodiment. Essentially, the applications are written in a“service” level “language,” from which all parts are automaticallygenerated.

A further preferred embodiment of the invention is the method which usesthe representation of the functionality to generate a common data model,a server data model, and a client data model. Using the server datamodel and an Automatic Server Generator comprising a serverorchestration controller, and a set of server functional blocks, themethod automatically generates an Application Server Run Time Logic, anApplication Server Backend Logic, a first Service Database, a firstAnalytics Collection, an Integration Ingestion Logic, and a NavigationGraph. Using the generated Application Server Run Time Logic,Application Server Backend Logic, first Service Database, firstAnalytics Collection, and Integration Data Ingestion Logic, andNavigation Graph the method automatically generates an executablecomputer program of a first retailer Application Server, an executablecomputer program of a second consumer Application Server, a firstRetailer Application Server Database, and a second Consumer ApplicationServer Database.

An additional preferred embodiment of the invention is the method whichuses the Automatic Server Generator to generate a first set ofValidation Rules and a first set of Consistency Rules. Using thegenerated first set of Validation Rules and first set of ConsistencyRules, the method uses a Server Validation Controller to validate thecorrectness of the generated executable computer program of firstretailer Application Server, second consumer Application Server, firstRetailer Application Server Database, and second Consumer ApplicationServer Database.

An additional preferred embodiment of the invention is the method whichuses the generated client data model, and an Automatic Client Generatorcomprising a Client Orchestration Controller, a set of Native FunctionalBlocks, an UI Generation Controller, a set of Templates, a set ofWidgets and Master Client Generator to generate a Client Foundations, aClient Surfaces, a Fillable Elements, an Actionable Elements, aNavigation Conditions, a second Analytics Collection, and a secondClient Database. Using the generated Client Foundations, ClientSurfaces, Fillable Elements, Actionable Elements, Navigation Conditions,second Analytics Collection, and second Client Database the methodautomatically generates an executable computer programs of a firstMaster mobile application client. Using the generated first Mastermobile application client and a Native Client Translation and Generator,the method automatically generates a set of executable computer programsof a plurality of application clients. Said set of executable computerprograms comprises the Native Mobile Application Clients, the Non-MobileApplication client, the Cloud Application Client and the Non-NativeMobile Application Client. Each executable computer program in said setof executable computer programs may run as a native executable programin a mobile device. The mobile device may be a cellular phone, asmartphone, a wearable device, or a tablet with a native operatingsystem specific to the chosen mobile device.

An additional preferred embodiment of the invention is the method whichuses the Automatic Server Generator to generate a first set ofValidation Rules and a first set of Consistency Rules. Using thegenerated first set of Validation Rules and first set of ConsistencyRules, the method uses a Server Validation Controller to validate thecorrectness of the generated executable computer program of firstretailer Application Server, second consumer Application Server, firstRetailer Application Server Database, and second Consumer ApplicationServer Database.

An additional preferred embodiment of the invention is the method whichuses the generated common data model, and an Automatic ProtocolGenerator comprising a Protocol Message Builder, a Field Configurator, aCall Flow Configurator, and a set of Basic Messages to automaticallygenerate a set of Client Server Protocols to connect the generated firstRetailer Application Server and first Consumer Application Server withthe generated set of Application Clients.

An additional preferred embodiment of the invention is the method whichuses the generated common data model, and an Automatic DashboardGenerator comprising a Dashboard Generation Controller, a Dashboard UIGeneration Controller, and a Dashboard Widget to automatically generatea set of Dashboard to manage and update the generated set of ApplicationClients.

A further preferred embodiment of the invention is an apparatus thatprovides the generated Dashboards to the Business Entity. Using thegenerated Dashboard and Business Entity Data, the Business Entityautomatically generates an Updated Data Model. The Updated Data Model isthen used by the System Solution to automatically generate an UpdatedApplication. Such an Updated Application consists of a plurality ofUpdated Application Components including a set of Updated Native MobileClients, Non-Native Mobile Clients, Non-Mobile and Cloud Mobile Clients,and other components. The newly generated Updated Application Componentsreplace the corresponding existing Application Components.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, amethod of coupling a second part of an Application Components to aplurality of Client Devices comprising the steps of running an OperatingSystem on each Client Device of the plurality of Client Devices,generating the Application Components automatically from a Data Modelusing a System Solution with at least one first server and with at leastone Computing device, coupling the plurality of Client Devices, aplurality of Computer hardware, the at least one first server and the atleast one Computing device together using a Communication network todeploy the Application Components, deploying a first part of theApplication Components to the plurality of Computer hardware to create afirst plurality of servers retaining the first part of the ApplicationComponents, deploying the second part of the Application Components tothe at least one first server, and coupling a corresponding portion ofthe second part of the Application Components to a corresponding ClientDevice in the plurality of Client Devices via the Communication network.The method further comprising the steps of showing a validity and aconsistency of each of the Application Components with a plurality ofValidation Controllers. The method further comprising the steps ofautomatically generating the Data model from a Service Representationand a Business Entity Data. The method whereby the first part of theApplication Components comprises a Retailer Application Server and aRetailer Application Server Database, a Consumer Application Server anda Consumer Application Server Database created by an AutomaticApplication Server Generator coupled to a Server Data Model. The methodwhereby the first part of the Application Components comprises a ClientServer Protocol and Security created by an Automatic Protocol Generatorcoupled to a Common Data Model. The method whereby the first part of theApplication Components comprises Dashboards created by an AutomaticDashboards Generator coupled to a Common Data Model. The method wherebythe second part of the Application Components comprises an Analytics, aNative Mobile Application Client, a Non-Native Mobile ApplicationClient, a Non-Mobile Application Client, and a Cloud Application Clientcreated by an Automatic Client Generator coupled to a Client Data Model.The method whereby the first part of the Application Componentscomprises a Searchable Application Representation created by anAutomatic Searchable Application Representation coupled to a Common DataModel. In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention,the method whereby the Data Model comprises a Common Data Model, aServer Data Model and a Client Data Model, and outputs of the Data Modelare partitioned between a Common Data Model output, a Server Data Modeloutput and a Client Data Model output, and whereby the Data Modelcomprises a Functional description, Configuration Parameters,Integration Point Parameters and Presentation Attributes. The methodwhereby the Client Device is a mobile device, a wearable device, anon-mobile device, or a Cloud device coupled to the communicationnetwork. The method further comprising the steps of downloading a firstClient Device with a first Operating System with at least one NativeMobile Application, and downloading a second Client Device with a secondOperating System with at least one Non-Native Mobile Application,wherein the second part of the Application Components comprises the atleast one Native Mobile Application and the at least one Non-NativeMobile Application.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, amethod of generating a Data Model comprising the steps of coupling atleast one Computing device to a System Solution with at least one firstserver, generating a Service Representation using the System Solution,coupling a Business Entity Data to an Automatic Data Model Generator,coupling the Service Representation to the Automatic Data ModelGenerator, and generating the Data Model from the Automatic Data ModelGenerator automatically using the Service Representation, the BusinessEntity Data and the System Solution. The method further comprising thesteps of showing a validity and a consistency of the Data Model with aplurality of Validation Controllers. The method whereby the ServiceRepresentation comprises a high-level feature list includes a ServiceBlack Box Description, Service Flavors, Service Features, a ServiceConfiguration, Service User Interfaces, Dashboards, Service IntegrationPoints, Service Internal Interfaces, Service Presentation and a ServiceStatus. The method whereby the Data Model comprises a Common Data Model,a Server Data Model and a Client Data Model, and outputs of the DataModel are partitioned between a Common Data Model output, a Server DataModel output and a Client Data Model output, whereby the Data Modelcomprises a Functional Description, Configuration Parameters,Integration Point Parameters and Presentation Attributes.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, amethod of generating a set of Updated Applications Clients automaticallycomprising the steps of coupling at least one Computing device to aSystem Solution with at least one first server, loading a BusinessEntity Data of a Business Entity on a server, filling fillable entriesof Dashboards by the Business Entity, generating an Updated Data Modelby the Dashboards controlled by the System Solution, and generating theset of Updated Applications Clients automatically with the Updated DataModel and the Automatic Application Update Generator. The method furthercomprising the steps of showing a validity and a consistency of theUpdated Data Model with a plurality of Validation Controllers, andshowing the validity and the consistency of the set of UpdatedApplications Clients with the plurality of Validation Controllers. Themethod further comprising the steps of including an Updated NativeMobile Application Client, an Updated Non-Native Mobile ApplicationClient, an Updated Non-Mobile Application Client and an Updated CloudApplication Client in the set of Updated Applications Clients, and themethod further comprising the steps of downloading each the UpdatedApplications Client to a corresponding Client Device via a Communicationnetwork.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, amethod of automatically generating a functionality of a selected one ormore desired Services, comprising the steps of providing a finite numberof Basic Server Functional Blocks for a Server, providing a finitenumber of Native Client Functional Blocks for a Client, providing afinite number of Basic Messages for a Client-Server Protocol, selectingone or more desired Services from a list of basic Services provided in aService Selection, and generating the combined functionality of theselected one or more desired Services automatically into a higherfunctionality component for the Server, the Client and the Server-ClientProtocol, simultaneously. The method further comprising the steps ofspecifying a plurality of basic Services as a list of inputs, outputsand parameters passes through a Service Internal Interface, wherebycombining the selected one or more desired Services list of inputs,outputs and parameters together to generate another desired Service orthe higher functionality component. The method further comprising thesteps of specifying the functionality of a User Interface with aConsumer End User using a Service User Interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Please note that the drawings shown in this specification may notnecessarily be drawn to scale and the relative dimensions of variouselements in the diagrams are depicted schematically. The inventionspresented here can be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. In other instances, well-known structures andfunctions have not been shown or described in detail to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiment of theinvention. Like numbers refer to like elements in the diagrams.

FIG. 1A depicts a Client Device coupled to a server and provides someexamples of Client Devices.

FIG. 1B depicts a Client Device coupled to a client/server.

FIG. 2A shows a Client Device with a coupling to a bank of servers andthe internal hardware/software structure of the Client Device.

FIG. 2B depicts a more detailed description of a server being a subsetof Computer hardware with software, a Database and the server.

FIG. 3 presents the current approval process of an application store.

FIG. 4 illustrates two different stacks of a native application and anon-native application in HTML5 running on a web browser.

FIG. 5 shows a Business Entity desiring to create a ServiceRepresentation in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates the flow chart of a Business Entity creating adesired Application Client automatically in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 7A depicts a more detailed list of client applications created inFIG. 6 in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7B shows how the automatically generated Native Mobile applicationClients are provided to the Client via a store in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 presents the Dashboards used by the Business Entity to update thedata model of the application to create updated applications inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows the End User, Client Device client/server protocol andapplication servers for a Business Entity in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates the service between the consuming, providing andconfiguring entities in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 11 depicts a chart offering service families and correspondingservice examples in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates the service being chained together to offer newServices in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows a Service Selection menu for the Business Entity inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14 shows one block structure of a Service Representation inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 15A-K depicts a Description and Examples of the block structure ofthe Service Representation for different Services in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates the Automatic Data Model Generator in more detail(from the Service Representation to Data Model) in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 depicts an Automatic Application Generator in more detail (fromthe Data Model to Applications Components) in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 18A illustrates an Automatic Application Server Generator inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 18B depicts the Basic Server Functional Blocks of FIG. 18A inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 19A shows an Automatic Protocol Generator in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 19B depicts the Basic Messages of FIG. 19A in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 20A shows an Automatic Client Generator in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 20B illustrates the Native Client Functional Blocks and Widgets tobuild the User Interface of FIG. 20A in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 21 depicts an Automatic Dashboard Generator in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 22A shows Single Application Server for the System Solution inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 22B illustrates an apparatus showing the interconnectivity betweenthe servers, Client devices and the System Solution in accordance withthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The System Solution offers the ownership, control and beneficial use ofthis inventive idea. The System solution offers the beneficial use tothe Business entity by providing Applications for the Business Entity.The Applications provided by the System Solution comprise a plurality ofApplication Components, and include Application Clients that run onMobile, Non-Mobile, and Cloud Client Devices. The System Solution is theowner of all Application Components automatically generated by theSystem Solution. The System Solution creates and hosts Applications fordifferent Business Entities (each Business Entity is a System Solutioncustomer). The term Retailer is used loosely as a synonym for BusinessEntity. The System Solution Consumer Application Server supports theservices presented to the users by the Mobile Application Clients,Non-Mobile Application Clients, and Cloud Clients, while the SystemSolution Retailer Application Server is used by the Business Entity tomonitor and manage the Application, including all the ApplicationClients. The System Solution provides a complete environment for thecreation, hosting, updating, and management of the Application. AllApplication Servers generated by the System Solution (specifically, theSystem Solution Consumer Application Server and System Solution RetailerApplication Server) for all Business Entities are hosted in amulti-tenant environment in the Cloud, but each Business Entity “feels”like it is provided dedicated Retailer and Consumer Application Servers.The System Solution architecture also applies with minor changes to ascenario where the System Solution Consumer Application Server andSystem Solution Retailer Application Server run on dedicated serversowned by the Business Entity, rather than in the Cloud. In thisscenario, the System Solution has access to control and offer beneficialuse for those servers that are coupled to the Cloud.

Business Entities deploy their Applications to reach Consumers (i.e.,the customers of that Business Entity served by System Solution). TheConsumers are the primary End Users of the Application Clients generatedby the System Solution. The Business Entities are the End Users of theDashboards and the Retailer Portal that the System Solution provides toeach Business Entity for managing the corresponding Application.

Each Application is described as a collection of Services. A Service isa set of functionality that is provided by a Service Providing Entity toa Service Consuming Entity. The Service Consuming Entity uses theService to accomplish a certain task or function or activity.Conceptually, this definition of “Service” is analogous to the notion ofService that Consumers obtain from a Service Provider, for example, acellphone service or a health care service. The Service Providing Entityis the Provider or Originator, while the Service Consuming Entity is theEnd User or Target. There is a type of interface between the Service andthe Service Providing Entity and between the Service and the ServiceConsuming Entity. The nature of such interfaces depends on the ServiceProviding/Consuming Entity, and could be a User Interface, anApplication Programming Interface, or some other type of interface.

For a given Service, the interface between the Service Providing Entityand the Service is referred to as the Southbound Interface, while theinterface between the Service Consuming Entity and the Service isreferred to as the Northbound Interface. Services can also have aManagement Interface through which they can be configured at runtime bya Service Configuration Entity.

Mobile Client Devices (cellular phones, smartphones, wearable devices,and tablets) and Non-Mobile Client Devices (laptops, desktops, andInternet-enabled TV sets) are coupled to the internet by wired (aphysical interconnect), wirelessly (waves through space), or bothwired/wireless networks. The wireless connectivity can be cellular (3G,4G, etc.), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiMax, etc. The network interconnectingthese components is called the Communication network. The Client Device1-2 has the Application Client which is the actual application softwarerunning on device. The cellular phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops,desktops, and Internet-enabled TV sets are Client Devices and arephysical devices that can be held. The term “Mobile” when used alone orin a larger phrase “Mobile Client Devices” can also imply the termsMobile, Non-Mobile or in the Cloud. The term Mobile Client at times willbe referred to as the Client Device. The term Application highlights thefact that the application built by the System Solution comprises aplurality of Application Components, and includes a portion of theApplication that runs on the Client Device (the Application Client) anda portion of the application that runs on a server (the ApplicationServer). The Application Client can be a part of the OS of the mobile ornon-mobile Client Device or can be partially in the Cloud. In the caseof a mobile physical Client Device, such a Client Device is placed inthe hands of an End User. In the case of a non-mobile physical ClientDevice, such a Client Device is placed in the proximity of the End User.In all cases, the Client Devices provide the End User with at least onemode of input through which the End User navigates and interacts withthe Application Client.

Each Application includes a family of Application Clients. EachApplication Client corresponds to a certain Client Device. The family ofApplication Clients includes a set of Native Mobile Clients, one permobile platform. Some examples of the mobile platforms include theiPhone, iPad, Android phones, or tablets while the non-mobile systemsinclude the desktops. Mobile platforms of interest include tablets. Forconvenience, we use the term Mobile Application Client (or moresuccinctly Mobile Client) to refer to any Mobile Client in the family ofMobile Clients corresponding to an Application generated by the SystemSolution.

FIG. 5 illustrates how a Business Entity 5-1 generates the ServiceRepresentation (high level representation) 5-4. The Business Entity 5-1is the entity that wants to create the application. The Business Entityis a customer of the System Solution. Examples of Business Entities are:retailers, manufacturers, schools, museums, franchises, and individuals.The Business Entity 5-1 determines the Business Objectives 5-2 which areused to create the Service Selection 5-3. The Business Entity 5-1selects the services in the Service Selection 5-3 which is used todetermine the Service Representation 5-4. The Service Representation isa high-level description of the functionality that the Business Entitywants to be implemented in the application. The Service Representation5-4 defines which Services are included in the Application according tothe interest of the Business Entity. The Service Representation uniquelydefines the desired functionality and contains sufficient informationfor the System Solution to automatically generate a Data Modelcorresponding to the Application. The Service Representation 5-4includes a set of Service Specifications, which specify the desiredService Features, Service Configuration, Service Interfaces, and ServicePresentation that are implemented in the Application.

A simplified version of the Automatic Application Generator isillustrated in FIG. 6. The Service Representation 5-4 and the BusinessEntity Data 6-1 are entered into in Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2.The Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 analyzes the information from theBusiness Entity Data and the Service Representation and segments theinformation automatically into memory into pre-arranged slots. Theoutput of the Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 with a well formattedmemory structure is used to create the Data Model 6-3. The structure ofthe Data Model 6-3 is uniform between any and all different BusinessEntities and the Services they select. The uniformity in the structureof the Data Model 6-3 can now be capitalized. The data outputs of theData Model 6-3 present data to the inputs of the Automatic ApplicationGenerator 6-4 in a well-organized structure. The Automatic ApplicationGenerator 6-4 can now focus on the automatic generation of featuressince all data has been partitioned into a known structure. TheAutomatic Application Generator 6-4 knows the structure of the DataModel 6-3 allowing the output of the Automatic Application Generator 6-4to automatically create a plurality of Application Components. Thesefeatures include the Application Servers 6-5, a set of Native MobileApplication Clients 6-6, a Client/Server Protocol 6-7, Dashboards 6-8that has entries which are fillable and Other Application Components6-9.

After the Application Components have been generated by the SystemSolution, they are deployed by installing and making them available foruse. The Application Servers 6-5 are installed on servers coupled to theInternet. The Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6 are submitted forapproval to the corresponding Application Stores, such as, Android,Apple, blackberry, etc. Once the Mobile Application Clients are approvedby the Application Stores, they become available for download byconsumers to their Client Devices 1-2. The Dashboards 6-8 are installedon a plurality of servers coupled to the Internet. Other ApplicationClients 6-9 are made available for download by storing them on serverscoupled to the Internet.

Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6 offer a family of executables ofnative Mobile Clients for all desired mobile platforms. This enables aself-service Automatic Application Creation environment for nativeMobile Applications Clients.

A very intuitive, high level Service Representation 5-4, such as avisual or graphical Service Representation 5-4 can be used to initiate afully Automatic Application Creation flow that generates a plurality ofApplication Components, including a family of Native Mobile ApplicationClients 6-6. The Client/Server Protocol 6-7 is a communication mechanismbetween the Application Client and the Application Server. ApplicationServer control, Mobile Application Client memory management, andClient/Server communication mechanism 6-7 are used to optimize MobileApplication Client response time and bandwidth utilization. There areDashboards 6-8 that are automatically created and provided to theBusiness Entities to manage the Services implemented in the Applicationand to generate a new set of updated Application Clients. The Dashboardsare controllers and the Business Entity may use the Dashboards via a webinterface running in a web browser or via a mobile interface. Such amobile interface may simply consist of a mobile version of a webinterface, or be integrated in a “management version” of the MobileApplication Client itself, or grouped in a separate tablet or smartphoneapplication.

FIG. 7A illustrates a more detailed description of the automaticapplication creation which runs software on a server to generate all theApplication Components in detail. The Service Representation 5-4 and theBusiness Entity Data 6-1 are used by the Automatic Data Model Generator6-2 to create the Data Model 6-3. The Business Entity Data 6-1 containsspecific data pertaining to the Business Entity that is relevant to runthe Services implemented in the Application. Examples of Business EntityData 6-1 are inventory, locations of stores, price of goods, etc. Theoutput of the Data Model 6-3 is applied to the Automatic ApplicationGenerator 6-4 which creates all the Application Components 7-9 in detailpartially described in FIG. 6. These components are deployed by aCommunication network and include the Application Servers 6-5 comprisingthe Retailer Application Server 7-1 and the Consumer Application Server7-2, a set of Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6, a Non-Native MobileApplication Clients 7-3, a Non-Mobile and Cloud Application Clients 7-4,Client/Server Protocols 6-7 and Dashboards 6-8. There is one NativeMobile Application Client 6-6 per Native Mobile OS (iOS for iPhone,Android, Blackberry, Windows, etc.). The Other Application Components6-9 are Security 7-5, Business portal 7-6 b, Analytics 7-6 a, BusinessAccount and Business Profile 7-7 and Searchable ApplicationRepresentation 7-8. A first part of the Application Components isdeployed to a plurality of Computer hardware to create a first pluralityof servers retaining the first part of the Application Components. Asecond part of the Application Components deployed to the at least onefirst server.

The Retailer Application Server 7-1 is used by the Business Entity 5-1to monitor and manage the Application Components for their BusinessEntity. The Consumer Application Server 7-2 supports the Servicesimplemented in the Application and presented to the consumers via allMobile, Non-Mobile, and Cloud Clients. All Application Servers(specifically, the Consumer Application Server 7-2 and RetailerApplication Server 7-1) for all Business Entities that are customers ofthe System Solution are hosted in a multi-tenant environment in theCloud, but each Business Entity “feels” like it is provided a dedicatedRetailer and Consumer Application Server. The architecture also applieswith minor changes to a scenario where the Consumer Application Server7-2 and Retailer Application Server 7-1 run on servers owned by theBusiness Entity, rather than in the Cloud. In this scenario, the workingassumption is that the System Solution has access to those servers.Businesses deploy their Application to reach Consumers (i.e., thecustomers of that Business Entity). The primary End Users of theApplication Clients are the Consumers of each Business Entity (i.e., thecustomers of all the Businesses served by the System Solution). TheBusiness Entities are the End Users of the Dashboards and RetailerPortal that the System Solution generates and provides to each Businessfor managing the corresponding Application.

Security 7-5 provides security and privacy in all communications betweenApplication Clients and Application Servers for each Business Entity.Security 7-5 also guarantees that there is no communication betweenRetailer Application Servers or Consumer Application Servers associatedwith different Business Entities and that Retailer Databases andConsumer Databases associated with different Business Entities are keptseparate. The System Solution offers basic protection against Denial ofService (DoS) attacks for each System Solution Application.

The Analytics 7-6 a consists of functionality to collect and processanalytics data on consumer engagement and usage in the ApplicationClients and transmit that data to the Application Server, andfunctionality to store and process analytics the received analytics datain the Application Server.

The Business Portal 7-6 b includes a number of interfaces for theBusiness Entity to view the processed Analytics Data and for theBusiness Entity to enter Business Data and manage its Business Profile.It also includes interfaces for the Business Entity 5-1 to access theWeb and Mobile Dashboards 6-8 and other tools that the Business Entityuses to manage, monitor, and update the Services implemented in itsApplication. The Business Portal 7-6 b also includes interfaces for theBusiness Entity 5-1 to manage its Searchable Application Representation7-8. The Business Portal used by the Business Entity handles: sales,marketing, customer service and support, appointments, analytics,feedback, and other customer facing tasks.

The Business Account and Business Profile 7-7 comprises the BusinessAccount and the Business Profile. The Business Account is used to storeinformation in the System Solution Database regarding the BusinessEntity 5-1 as a customer of the System Solution, such as management,billing, and sales information. The Business Profile stores relevantBusiness Entity Data 6-1 and all the information relevant to run theServices provided by the Business Entity 5-1 and implemented in theApplication.

Each Mobile Application is associated with a Searchable ApplicationRepresentation 7-8, which makes the corresponding Mobile ApplicationClient and the content contained in such Mobile Application Clientsearchable by search engines. SEO techniques can be used in the SystemSolution Searchable Application Representation to boost the searchresults of the corresponding Mobile Application Client and content.Searchable Application Representation 7-8 for each Business Entity 5-1is generated by the System Solution when the Application for thatBusiness Entity is created.

FIG. 7B illustrates how the Native Mobil Application Clients 6-6 aredownloaded to Mobile Application Clients (1-2 w, 1-2 x, 1-2 y, and 1-2z). The set of Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6 contains, forexample, an iPhone Application 7-10, a Blackberry Application 7-11, anAndroid Application 7-12 and an iPad Application 7-13. A plurality ofother combinations of other Application Clients is possible. The arrow7-17 shows these four Applications being applied to the correspondingApplication store. These four Applications; an iPhone Application 7-10,a Blackberry Application 7-11, an Android Application 7-12, and an iPadApplication 7-13 are submitted 3-2 to the approval process 3-3 to getaccepted 3-4. The iPhone Application 7-10 and iPad Application 7-13 areeach applied to the Apple Application Store 7-14 a and 7-14 b, theBlackberry Application 7-11 is applied to the Blackberry ApplicationStore 7-15 and the Android Application 7-12 is applied to the AndroidApplication Store 7-16. The Applications iPhone 7-10, Blackberry 7-11,Android 7-12 and iPad 7-13 are downloaded 3-6 to the correspondingMobile application Clients 1-2 w, 1-2 x, 1-2 y and 1-2 z, respectively.

FIG. 8 presents an Application Update flow which shows how the newlycreated application can be further updated by the Business Entity 5-1using the newly created Dashboards 6-8. The Dashboards 6-8 that areautomatically created in FIG. 6 are used by the Business Entity 5-1 toadd, delete, or modify content, features, and services contained in theApplication and replace the existing set of Application Clients. TheDashboards 6-8 can be used by the Business Entity 5-1 to generate a newset of Native Mobile Application Clients containing the added, deleted,or modified content, features, and services. The System Solution allowsthe Business entity to modify the Data Model and generate newApplication Clients using the Automatic Application Update 8-2 so thatthe Business Entity 5-1 can interact with their Customers through theClient Devices 1-2. The generated Dashboard 6-8 allows the BusinessEntity to have control of what the Business Entity wants to present totheir Customers. The Business Entity 5-1 using the Dashboards 6-8 updateand recreate the features of the Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6,Non-Native Mobile Application Clients 7-3, Non-Mobile and CloudApplication Clients 7-4 and the Searchable Application Representation7-8 of FIG. 7 (all others remain the same) by providing input to theBusiness Entity Data 6-1 which provides data for the Dashboards 6-8. Theoutput of the Dashboards 6-8 is applied to the Updated Data Model 8-1which is then applied to the Automatic Application Update Generator 8-2which is a sub-set of the Automatic Application Generator 6-4. Theoutput of the Automatic Application Update Generator 8-2 generates a setof Updated Native Mobile Application Clients 8-3, an Updated Non-NativeMobile Application Client 8-4, an Updated Non-Mobile and CloudApplication Client 8-5 and a Updated Searchable ApplicationRepresentation 8-6. Once this sequence has been established, theBusiness Entity can manipulate the business data applied to theDashboards 6-8 and can continuously and automatically update the variousApplication Clients that this particular system generates.

The Retailer Portal 7-6 b and Dashboards 6-8 provide the Business Entity5-1 with a solution for the self-service monitoring, management, andupdating of an Application consisting of a plurality of ApplicationComponents (i.e., after that Application is created), through a set ofDashboards 6-8 and tools that the Retailer can directly access (hence,the self-service nature of the process) this updating process. This iscalled the Application Retailer Management Flow.

Depending on the nature of the additions, deletions, and modificationsand on the architecture of the generated Native Mobile ApplicationClient, the newly generated Updated Native Mobile Application Clients8-3 may have to be resubmitted for approval to the correspondingApplication Stores in order for the new clients to be downloaded to theClient Devices 1-2. In certain cases, the newly generated Native MobileApplication Client do not require resubmission of the Mobile Client tothe corresponding Application Store, and therefore do not requireexplicit updates from the Application Stores of those ApplicationClients running on the Client Devices. In such cases, the SystemSolution provides internal client/server update mechanisms that performthe updates in a “dynamic manner” that is “instantaneous” and completelytransparent to the Consumer and Business Entities.

The Application Clients are dynamic in nature, and can be managed andupdated to a certain extent via a corresponding set of Dashboards 6-8accessed by the Business Entity through the Retailer Portal. Using theDashboards 6-8, a Retailer can: Add, delete, and modify content withinthe application; Add, delete, and modify Pages within a Service in theapplication; Modify the navigation within the application; and turn onand off Services (i.e., make Services active or dormant) that wereselected when the application was created.

Mobile and Non-Mobile Clients are capable to update their content andfunctionality “dynamically” and efficiently, under the control of theConsumer Application Server, so as to provide a very engaging experienceto the Consumers. The Dynamic architecture is designed to support“dynamic” experiences in the most efficient and responsive way possible.The objective is to enhance the Client user experience in terms ofresponse time while maintaining the dynamic nature of portions of theClient. The structure of the Dynamic Architecture allows identifying theElements and Sub-Elements that are most likely to change. In this way,the Consumer Application Server 7-2 can send to the Mobile Client onlyincremental updates, with a “minimum” amount of information whichmaximizes the bandwidth usage of this interface. The Mobile Client andthe Consumer Application Server 7-2 follow a simple Update Strategy toupdate the Pages and content in the Mobile Client 1-2. The Mobile Client1-2 also follows a greedy Persistency Strategy, to keep in memory asmuch information as possible to be displayed while requesting forfresher copies of certain Elements and Sub-Elements.

FIG. 9 illustrates further details of the functional components thatimplement a Service and are automatically generated by the SystemSolution. The Service Representation 5-4 automatically generates theService. The End User 9-1, or Customer, interfaces to the Client Device1-2. The Service Client-Server Protocol 9-2 exchange information betweenthe Application Servers 6-5 and the Client Device 1-2. The BusinessEntity 5-1 uses the Dashboards 6-8 which are a sub-set of the externaldata 9-6. If the Service does not change, the Dashboards are not usedand the Data stays the same. Business Entity Data 6-1 is available fromthe Business Entity 5-1.

The Client Device 1-2 consists of the Application Client 9-7, anOperating System 2-13 and Hardware 2-16. The Application Client 9-7further comprises several blocks. These blocks include the ApplicationClient User Interface 9-8, the Application Client Server Logic 9-9, theApplication Flow 9-10, a Service Database-Client 9-11 and anAnalytics-Client 9-12. The Service Client-Server Protocol 9-2 isassociated with Security 9-3 that is used to encode the information thatis sent between the Client Device 1-2 and the Application Servers 6-5.The Application Servers 6-5 comprises the Searchable Representation9-13, an Application Server Run Time Logic 9-14, a ServiceDatabase-Server 9-15, and an Application Server Backend Logic 9-16,Service Policy and Rules 9-17, Analytics-Server 9-18, Navigation Graph9-20 and an Integration Data Ingestion Logic 9-19. The ApplicationServer Run Time Logic 9-14 runs in the Consumer Application Server 7-2and the Application Server Backend Logic 9-16 runs in the RetailerApplication Server 7-1.

A Client portion (Mobile, Non-Mobile or in the Cloud) presents theService to the End User 9-1, allowing Consumers to enter inputs,interact with the Services, and collect statistics. In turn, thisincludes a User Interface (UI), mobile application logic and a mobiledata structure. For example, the (Client Device 1-2) can run on a Mobilephone. The mobile application logic and mobile data structure use anumber of Client functional blocks or widgets to implement the requiredfunctionality. An Application Server portion, which runs in the ConsumerApplication Server 7-2, and provides the backend functionality needed torun the Service. In turn, this includes application server logic and adata structure. The application server logic and data structure use anumber of basic server functional blocks to implement the requiredfunctionality. A Service Client-Server Protocol 9-2 offers acommunication mechanism between the Client Device 1-2 and theApplication Servers 6-5. A Management Suite comprising a set ofmanagement Dashboards 6-8 and tools that the Business Entity 5-1 uses toconfigure, update, modify, manage, monitor, and analyze the Service. TheManagement Suite is accessed by the Business through the Retailer Portaland runs in the Retailer Application Server 7-1.

The primary End Users are the Consumers (i.e., the customers of all theBusinesses). Any End User action or input while offline is stored inmemory and sent to the Server when connectivity is restored. TheConsumer Application Server 7-2 contains functionality to run theApplication for each Business Entity and to manage the End Users (i.e.,Consumers) of the Application. The role of the End User 9-1 defines whois at the “receiving end” of a Service. In other words, the End User 9-1is the “entity” who “experiences” or “benefits” from a certain Service.

The Searchable Representation 9-13 includes a Business-Facing Servicecomprising a Mobile Search Engine optimization (SEO) Manager whichallows the Business-Facing Service to monitor and enhance the MobileApplication Searchable URL by building upon Mobile ApplicationSearchable URL and Searchable URL Tagging. Mobile Application SearchableURL which creates a Searchable Representation of the Mobile Applicationand Searchable URL Tagging that adds keywords to Mobile ApplicationSearchable URL. Each Mobile Application is associated with a SearchableURL, which makes the corresponding Mobile Application Clients and theircontent searchable by search engines. SEO techniques can be used in theSearchable URL to boost the search results of the corresponding MobileApplication Clients and their content. The Searchable URL for eachBusiness Entity is generated by the System Solution AutomaticApplication Generator 6-4 when the Mobile Application System for thatBusiness Entity 5-1 is created.

FIG. 10 depicts a pictorial representation of a Service 10-3. TheService 10-3 is at the center of the FIG. 10. The Service ConsumingEntity 10-1 can be the End User or the target (for example, anotherservice). The Service Providing Entity 10-5 can be the Business Entity5-1 or the provider and originator while the Service Configuring Entity10-7 can be the Business Entity 5-1 or the configurator. An interfacebetween the Service 10-3 and the various entities exists. The NorthboundInterface 10-2 is between the Service Consuming Entity 10-1 and theService 10-3. The Southbound Interface 10-4 is between the ServiceProviding Entity 10-5 and the Service 10-3. Finally a ManagementInterface 10-6 (which is equivalent to a Dashboard) is between theService Configuring Entity 10-7 and the Service 10-3.

A Service 10-3 is a set of functionality that is provided by a ServiceProviding Entity 10-5 to a Service Consuming Entity 10-1. The ServiceConsuming Entity 10-1 uses the Service 10-3 to accomplish a certain taskor function or activity, for example, receiving and redeeming anelectronic coupon on the Service Consuming Entity's cellphone. TheService Providing Entity 10-5 is the Provider or Originator, while theService Consuming Entity 10-1 is the End User or Target. Typically,there is some type of interface between the Service 10-3 and the ServiceProviding Entity 10-5 and between the Service and the Service ConsumingEntity 10-1. The nature of such interfaces depends on the ServiceProviding/Consuming Entity, and could be a User Interface (UI), anApplication programming Interface (API), or some other type ofinterface. The term API refers to an interface between the SystemSolution and an External System, or to an interface between twoServices. In other words, the term API loosely, in a logicalconnotation, is synonymous of a generic Interface. Such an Interface canbe implemented in various ways, including as a physical API. For a givenService, the interface between the Service Providing Entity 10-5 and theService 10-3 is referred to as the Southbound Interface 10-4, while theinterface between the Service Consuming Entity 10-1 and the Service isreferred to as the Northbound Interface 10-2. Services 10-3 can alsohave a Management Interface 10-6 through which they can be configured atruntime by a Service Configuration Entity 10-7.

In the case the Service Consuming Entity is itself a Service, for the“higher” Service using the other “lower” Service, such interface is theSouthbound Interface 10-4. Conversely, for the lower Service being usedby the higher Service, such interface is the Northbound Interface 10-2.A Service that is used by other Services as a building block offunctionality can be invoked in different ways by different Services.For example, the Store Finder Service can be explicitly invoked by theMobile Ordering Service to let the Consumer select a specific locationwhere to place the order; the Store Finder Service can be implicitlyinvoked by a Customized Information Service to identify which specificlocation's menu should be displayed.

A Service 10-3 can be provided at different levels, depending on theService 10-3 desired from the Service Consuming Entity 10-1. The ServiceConsuming Entity 10-1 is the Consumer or End User using a Mobile Clienton his/her smartphone (Client Device). The Northbound Interface 10-2 isthe means provided to the Consumer to interact with the Service andenter Consumer Input (if needed by the Service).

One example of Consumer Service is the Loyalty Service. In this Service,the Consumer is provided with the ability of accumulating points basedon their purchases at a store, and eventually earning rewards when thenumber of points reaches a certain level. Other examples of ConsumerServices can include Personalized Storefront Service, Real TimePromotion Service, Store Finder Service, and many others.

In a Business-Facing Service, the Service Consuming Entity 10-1 is theBusiness Entity 5-1. An example of a Business-Facing Service is theRetailer Profile Manager Service which provides a Retailer Portalthrough which a Business Entity 5-1 can create and manage a profilecontaining information about the Business Entity. A Service-FacingService is where Services 10-3 can be built on top of other Services; inthis case, the Service Consuming Entity 10-1 of a certain Service 10-3is another Service. An example of a Service-Facing Service is theRedemption Service, which is used by, say, the In-Store PromotionService to enable the redemption in the store of a promotion.

An Application generated by the System Solution is the collection of anumber of Consumer-Facing Services and Business-Facing Services. The setof Services that comprise the Application is referred to as theApplication Structure.

FIG. 11 provides a table 11-1 of a set of examples of Service Families11-2 along with a set of Service Examples 11-3. The Greeting Service isthe first row under the Service Family 11-2 contains the serviceexamples of in-location greetings and automatic check-ins. ThePersonalized Experience Services row comprises a personalized promotion,and in-store only experiences, real-time experiences yield management,personalized storefront and context/location specific experiences. TheInformation Services row comprises a personalized information discovery,customized information, intelligent notifications/reminders/alerts,personalized/contextual guides and an intelligent navigator. The 2ndScreen Services row includes contextual product information, acontextual interactivity and a contextual virtual wall. The CorrelationServices row comprises an interest relation between product correlation,a contextual correlation, a real time correlation, and information-basedcorrelation and a social-based recommendation. The Value Services rowcontains intelligent shopping list/wallets, product trackers, storenavigators, personal organizer calendar/concierge and reservations. TheConvenient Services row includes a mobile ordering, a mobile delicounter and activity trackers. The Loyal Services row comprises apersonalized loyalty, a purchase-based rewards, activity-based rewardsand VIP services. The Communication Services row contains contextualfeedback, contextual polls, personalized messaging, one-clickcommunications and reviews. The Utility Services row comprises mobilepayments, a price finder, social sharing and store finders.

Services can be chained together to form a new Service 10-3. Forexample, in FIG. 12 Service I 12-5 a can be Personalization whileService II 12-5 b can be Promotion. These can be chained togetherthrough Service Internal Interface 12-4 to form a Service III 12-3called Personalized Promotions. Typically, Dashboards 6-8 is provided tocombine these various services together. The Service III 12-3 is appliedto the Service User Interface 12-2 and then to the End User 9-1.Although two services 12-5 a and 12-5 b have been illustrated, aplurality of services can be combined together to address the End Userrequirements.

A Service Selection 5-3 is depicted in FIG. 13. The menu of the list ofServices and corresponding checkboxes are used by the Business Entity toselect those Services. For example, the list of Services may include theservice family examples 11-2 and Service examples 11-3 presented in FIG.11. The Service Selection 5-3 is presented where a number of Services 113-1, Service 2 13-3, Service 3 13-5 and Service N 13-7 can be selectedusing checkboxes 13-2, 13-4, 13-6 and 13-8, respectively. This is a menuof available services, and the Business Entity chooses the ones that itwants implemented. Typically, these are end-user-facing Services, whichare often built as a Chain of Services as presented in FIG. 12. The EndUser can be the Consumer who can be the actual End User 9-1 of theApplication Client or the Business Entity 5-1. One application used bythe Business Entity, for example, is Data Mining Services that produceanalytics. When the Business Entity chooses a specific Service, itselects all the Services that are then chained together in order tobuild the final Service. For example, in FIG. 13, checkboxes 13-2 and13-6 have been selected which presents one of the choice combinations ofa Service selection 5-3.

FIG. 14 illustrates a block representing the various pieces of theService Representation 5-4 with a list of high-level features, flavors,and options that allow the Business Entity 5-1 to customize the requiredService 10-3. For each Service included in the Service Selection 5-3,there exists a Service Representation 5-4 describing that Service. Thecollection of all the Service Representations describing all the Serviceselected to be implemented in an Application constitutes the ServiceRepresentation of the Application and fully describes the functionalitythat needs to be implemented in the Application. The ServiceRepresentation is a high-level “behavioral” description of the Service10-3 from an end-user viewpoint. The high-level feature list includes aService “Black Box” Description 14-1, Service Flavors 14-2, ServiceFeatures 14-3, Service Configuration 14-4, Service User Interface 12-2,Dashboards 6-8, Service Integration Points 14-7, Service InternalInterfaces 12-4, Service Presentation 14-9 and a Service Status 14-10.

FIG. 15A depicts the Description and Examples of the Service “Black Box”Description 14-1. This provides a description of the Service 10-3 “as aBlack Box”. This description includes all aspects of the Service andprovides a description of the Service “as a Black Box”. This is a veryhigh-level description (i.e., in plain English) of how the Servicebehaves from the point of view of an End User. It is typically a list ofbullet points that describes the behavior of all aspects of the Service.The End User is both the Consumer who uses the Application Clients andthe Business Entity who provides and manages the Service and can receivedata and analytics back from the usage of the Service by the Consumer.The purpose of the “Black Box” Description is to give a high-level ideato the Business Entity of what the Service will provide to the Consumerand how the Service will be managed by the Business Entity. The “BlackBox” Description is not an actual input to the Automatic Data ModelGeneration Process. The “Black Box” is simply provided to make theService Selection process by the Business Entity easier and clearer.

FIG. 15A includes examples of the Service “Black Box” Description 14-1as it applies to different Services, such as: Real Time PromotionService, Real Time Promotion Personalized to Shopping List Service andElectronic Loyalty Service—“'Key Chain” Card. For example, the Service“Black Box” Description for the Real Time Promotion Service may consistof a list of bullet points describing the behavior of the Service. Thedescription may read as follows. A Promotion is created via a Dashboard.The promotion includes a product description, an offer, and anexpiration date/time. The Promotion is distributed in real time to theMobile Application Clients in the vicinity of a desired store (i.e.,within a certain radius from the store). When the Mobile ApplicationClients receive the Promotion, they display a Notification alerting theConsumer that the Promotion is available. The Consumer can redeem thePromotion and receive the discount. Once the expiration date/time isreached, the Promotion is not displayed in the Application Client andcannot be used. Another example applies to the Real Time PromotionPersonalized to Shopping List , which is an example of Service Chaining:it chains three Services, i.e., Real Time Promotion Service plusPersonalization Service plus Shopping list Service. The Promotionbehaves the same as described above. When the Promotion is created,keywords can be added via a Dashboard. The keywords are used to matchthe Promotion with items in the Shopping list. The Shopping List Serviceis a list of items that the Consumer can enter through their ApplicationClient. The Promotion is distributed in real time only to the MobileApplication Clients in the vicinity of a desired store which have intheir shopping List keywords that match the items. A third exampleapplies to the Electronic Loyalty Service—“'Key Chain” Card. The Service“Black Box” Description for this Service would recite as follows. TheElectronic Loyalty Service—“'Key Chain” Card is an electronic LoyaltyCard is associated to each Consumer. The electronic Loyalty Card isdisplayed in the Mobile Application Client and has a barcode that can bescanned at the Point of Sale (PoS) to identify the Consumer. A point foreach dollar that the Consumer spends on the purchase is added to theLoyalty Card from the PoS. Consumer redeems rewards when a pre-definednumber of points are accumulated. Consumer can check the balance ofpoints on his/her card at any time from the Application Client. TheElectronic Loyalty Service can be tied to a card. This “Key Chain” Cardis the electronic equivalent of a physical Loyalty Card that Consumerscarry in their Key Chain (e.g., a supermarket Card) or in their walletand use the cord when the Consumer is at the store.

FIG. 15B depicts the description and examples of the Service Flavor14-2. This provides a description of the Service 10-3 with examples. AService can have a number of variations or flavors, which accommodatedifferent use cases. The Business Entity 5-1 selects which flavors itwants. The flavors may not be mutually exclusive. The Service Flavors14-2 consist of a high level description of what the Service looks like.If needed for clarity to the Business Entity, there can be a Black BoxDescription for each flavor. The selected flavors 14-2 are an input tothe Automatic Data Model Generation Process, since the selected flavorsdetermine the defining features of the Service.

Service Flavors 14-2 are variations of a Service 10-3, which accommodatedifferent user cases. FIG. 15B includes examples of Service Flavors fortwo Services: Electronic Loyalty Service and Promotion Service. TheElectronic Loyalty Service comprises two Service Flavors. A first flavoris an Electronic Loyalty Key Chain Card Service and is the electronicequivalent of a physical loyalty card carrying a bar code (e.g., thesupermarket membership cards that people carry around in their keychain). The Mobile Application Client displays a barcode, which isscanned at the PoS at the store, and identifies the Consumer. A secondflavor is an Electronic loyalty Punch Card Service which is theelectronic equivalent of a physical loyalty punch card (e.g., a “buy 10sandwiches get 1 free” card that gets punched by the cashier every timethe Consumer buys a sandwich). In this case, the Business may display aQR code at the PoS at the store, the mobile Application Client scans theQR code, which identifies the Purchase and “punches” the electroniccard. A first example of flavors for the Promotion Service includes aReal Time Promotion Service. These promotions can be created,distributed, and retired in real time (e.g., a “20% off for the next twohours” Promotion). A second example of flavors for the Promotion Serviceincludes a Location Specific Promotion Service. These promotions arevalid only at a specific, configurable store within a chain of stores.

FIG. 15C and FIG. 15D depict the Description and Examples of the ServiceFeatures 14-3. This provides a description of the Service 10-3 withexamples. Service Feature 14-3 specifies the available relevant featuresof a Service. The list of relevant features depends on the Service. Somefeatures depend on the Service Flavor. This looks like a menu offeatures, and the Business Entity 5-1 selects the features that itneeds. Some features may be defined as “default” features and areprovided in the Application without the need for the Business Entity toexplicitly select them. Some features, when selected, automaticallyselect other required features, which are necessary for the feature towork properly. Some features, when selected, automatically requirecertain Integration Points to be defined in order for the Service towork as expected. The Service Features 14-3 are an important input ofthe Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2.

FIG. 15C and FIG. 15D provides examples of Service Features for twoServices: Promotion Service and Electronic Loyalty Service. The ServiceFeatures for Promotion Service include the following. A Type ofPromotions: obtaining dollar discount (e.g., $5 off), a percentage offthe price (e.g., 10% off) and offers to buy X get Y free (e.g., buy oneget one free). A list of available redemption mechanisms: a redemptionmechanism via bar code (e.g., the application displays a bar code thatidentifies the promotion and can be scanned at the PoS to redeem it).This mechanism typically requires an Integration Point with the POSsystem, since the bar code has to be known by the PoS system in order toproperty account for the promotion. A redemption mechanisms via a QRcode (e.g., the application displays a QR code that identifies thepromotion and can be scanned at the PoS to redeem it.); a redemptionmechanism via “redeem button” (e.g., the application displays a “redeembutton” that the Consumer can tap when at the PoS to receive thediscount); and a redemption mechanism via short code (e.g., theapplication displays a short code that the Consumer can give to theCashier in order to receive the discount). The Redemption Scope incudes:Redemption occurs In-store only (e.g., the promotion) or redemptionoccurs In-store plus home delivery. The Service Features for theElectronic loyalty Service includes: Loyalty Events (i.e., events thatgenerate points to be added to a loyalty card). This includes: OfferPurchase-Based Loyalty Points. Consumer gets loyalty points associatedto certain purchases (e.g., one point per dollar spent at the store); orNon-Purchase-Based Loyalty Points. The Consumer gets Loyalty points foractions other than purchase (e.g., enter the store more than once amonth or achieving a Reward Threshold). Service Features for theElectronics Loyalty Service also includes Reward Threshold: SingleThreshold. The Consumer gets a reward when he/she accumulates a numberof loyalty points equal to the Reward Threshold. Multiple Thresholds. Ifmultiple thresholds occur, then the Consumers get different rewards whenhe/she accumulates points equal to one of a number of available RewardThresholds. Loyalty levels can be Single loyalty level, Multiple loyaltylevels (e.g., Silver and Gold loyally levels, each Consumer isassociated with one level depending on the frequency he/she visits astore, Silver level gets one loyalty point per dollar spent, or Goldlevel gets two loyalty points per dollar spent).

FIG. 15E depicts the Description and Examples of the ServiceConfiguration 14-4. Service Configuration specifies relevant parametersthat need to be specified by the Business for the Service 10-3 to beconfigured. The configuration parameters typically go hand-in-hand withthe Service Features 14-3. Service Configuration 14-4 specifies relevantvalues of parameters that need to be specified by the Business Entity5-1 for the Service to be configured. The configuration parameterstypically depend on the selected Service Features 14-3. Each of theselected Service Features 14-3 can require one or more ConfigurationParameter. Some of the Configuration Parameter Values are requiredbefore the Application can be deployed (e.g., Store Locations forLocation-Specific Promotions). Some of the Configuration ParameterValues are entered once the Application is deployed, or are entered whenthe Data Model 6-3 is updated (e.g., a new Promotion is created anddistributed in a Promotion Service). The Configuration Parameter Valuesare entered either via Dashboards 6-8 such as, all the data required toset up a new Promotion, or via Service Integration Points (e.g., a filewith all the Store Locations is read by the Automatic Data ModelGeneration Process). Some Services can have Configuration ParameterValues that are entered by the Consumer via the Application Client whenthe Service is run. The Automatic Data Model Generation Processvalidates that all the Configuration Parameter Values that are needed torun the Service have been entered. The Service Configuration Processalerts the Business Entity (or the Consumer) if some required value hasnot been entered.

FIG. 15E provides example of Service Configuration for two Services:Promotion Service and Electronic Loyalty Service. Service Configurationfor the Promotion Service includes Store locations such as the name ofstore, address, GPS coordinates, or size of the store. Bar codesidentify the Promotions. Redemption Rules which specify under whatcircumstances a Promotion should be redeemed; examples of RedemptionRules include: offer a specific Promotion that is only valid before 6:00pm on weekdays and a Promotion can only be redeemed once. Promotion Dataincludes product description, offer value, expiration date, or productpicture. Service Configuration for the Electronic Loyalty Servicecomprises Loyalty values such as one loyalty point per dollar spent. Thereward threshold values offer reward items associated to each Rewardthresholds. The Reward rules offer loyalty points that expire after oneyear.

The Service User Interface 12-2 illustrated in FIG. 15F specifies thefunctionality of the User Interface with the Consumer End User. Thisdescribes each interface and the parameters passed through thoseinterfaces.

An example of a Service User Interface 14-5 includes Promotion Serviceuser Interface. The Promotion Service user Interface comprises DisplaysPromotion Data in multiple levels of detail (e.g., view showingPromotion summary, view showing Promotion details), allowing groupingpromotions in categories and provides multiple levels of navigationwhere the selection comprises category and a selection of promotionwithin category. Bar Codes are displayed to identify the promotion.

Dashboards 6-8, as shown in FIG. 15G, specify the functionality of theDashboards 6-8. This Service 10-3 describes each interface and theparameters passed through those interfaces. The Dashboards 6-8 are theinterfaces that get automatically generated for the Business Entity 5-1to manage the Service 10-3 and update it. This describes thefunctionality provided in the Dashboards 6-8. The functionality of theDashboards 6-8 strictly depends on the selected Service Features 14-3and is directly derived from the portion of the Service that ischangeable.

An example includes Promotion Service Dashboard. The Promotion ServiceDashboard allows the creation and distribution of a Promotion byentering the name of Promotion, Promotion code, product description,offer value, and start date/time, expiration date/time or keywords.

Service Integration Points 14-7 illustrated in FIG. 15H specify theIntegration Points with External Systems. A Service 10-3 can be usingService Integration Points 14-7 with other systems and databasesbelonging to the Business Entity 5-1 or to other entities. ServiceIntegration Points 14-7 are used to get Business Data input (or providedata output) or to get other types of Data (e.g., content) that may beneeded to run the Service. Service Integration Points are implemented bygenerating interfaces specified as a list of inputs, outputs andparameters that are passed through the interface.

Examples include: Promotion Service Integration Points. The PromotionService Integration Points are for PoS Integration to exchange PromotionCodes for each Promotion and receive Purchase Data for each consumer.External Database Integration also ingests store locations.

As shown in FIG. 15I, Service Internal Interfaces 12-4 specify theinterfaces of a Service 10-3 which may be using other Services,accessible via Internal Service Interfaces. The Internal ServiceInterfaces are specified as a list of inputs, outputs and parametersthat are passed through the interface. The Internal Service Interfacestypically do not need to be made visible to the Business Entity.

Examples include: Promotion Service using Bar Coding and RedemptionServices. The Promotion Service using Bar Coding uses a Bar CodingService Interface for input to identify a unique number identifying anitem. A barcoding label identifies an output barcoding. The RedemptionServices Interface uses as an input the Promotion_ID and Consumer_IDvalues while the Interface uses as output the valid or invalidredemption.

Service Presentation 14-9 as depicted in FIG. 15J specifies how theservice can be presented to the Consumer. This specifies the UI of theApplication Client. This includes a set of Presentation Templates 15-1,which correspond to one or more UI Regions, which in turn correspond toDashboards 6-8. The set of possible Presentation Templates 15-1 dependson the desired Service Flavors 14-2 and Service Features 14-3. Thisspecifies how the service can be presented to the Consumer, i.e.,defines how the User Interface with the Consumer appears. The BusinessEntity 5-1 selects which Presentation Template(s) it prefers. Theselected Presentation Template(s) may depend on the Business Data (e.g.,in a Promotion Service. Primary Service Presentation is a Carousel,Horizontal if there are less than 10 Promotions, a Scrollable List ifthere are more than 10 but less than 50 Promotions, or a Category Listif there are more than 50 Promotions). Service Presentation 14-9typically includes a Primary Service Presentation which is how the“bulk” of the Service can be presented. Highlighters are additional UIRegions that can be used in the Application Client to highlight orsummarize certain relevant pieces of the Service (e.g., the LoyaltyPoint balance counter can be displayed in the landing page).

Example of Service Presentation 14-9 for Promotion Service includes thefollowing. Available Presentation Templates 15-1 with examplesincluding: Primary Service Presentation and Highlighters. The PrimaryService Presentation is a Carousel that is Horizontal with detailed viewon tapping, Carousel that is Vertical with detailed view on tapping,Small Scrollable Tray with single zoomed Promotion View detailed view ontapping, Scrollable List with detailed view on tapping, Category Listwith Scrollable Tray per category and detailed view on tapping, orIndividual Promotion with detailed view on tapping. The PresentationTemplates 15-1 presets the different views based on tapping. TheHighlighters provides a Greeting message such as “You have X promotions”in the landing page. Alerts are also flashed of in-store promotions onselected pages.

As depicted in FIG. 15K, Service Status 14-10 is where the BusinessEntity 5-1 can specify one of two Service Statuses: Active and Dormant.Active is a Service that is actively running, deployed, and exposed tothe Consuming Entity (typically the Consumer) via the User Interface.Dormant is a Service that is disabled, but all the Application Clientsfor that Service are generated. This includes functionality, interfaces,and presentation. The Status of the Service is set by the Business andcan be changed at any time. Using the Dormant Status, the BusinessEntity can create the Service and keep it disabled but ready for futureuse.

FIG. 16 illustrates the Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 after beingsegmented in more detail (from Service Representation to Data Model).The Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 takes the Service Representation5-4 and the Business Entity Data 6-1 and generates all the fields thatare included in the Data Model 6-3. The Service Representation 5-4includes Service Flavors 14-2, Service Features 14-3, ServiceConfiguration 14-4, Service Integration Points 14-7, Service InternalInterfaces 12-4, Service Presentation 14-9 which comprises thePresentation Templates 15-1 and the Service Status 14-10. Once the DataModel 6-3 is generated, the Common Data Model 16-23, the Server DataModel 16-15 and the Client Data Model 16-16 are contained within. TheServer Data Model 16-15 is the portion of the Data Model 6-3 that isrelevant for the generation and operation of all parts of the systemother than the Application Clients. The Client Data Model 16-16 is theportion of the Data Model 6-3 that is relevant for the generation andoperation of the Application Clients.

The Common Data Model 16-23 includes several structures: FunctionalDescription 16-7, Configuration Parameters 16-8, Integration PointParameters 16-9 and Presentation Attributes 16-10.

The Functional Description 16-7 defines the functionality that needs tobe provided by the Application. The Functional Description 16-7comprises the Functional Block Chain 16-11, which is the list of BasicServer Functional Blocks and Native Client Functional Blocks that needto be used by the Automatic Application Generator 6-4 to generate allthe components of the Application. The Functional Block Chain 16-11 alsodefines in which order the blocks should be used (if there is ahierarchy). Since the Services can be hierarchical, the FunctionalDescription 16-7 is also hierarchical. The Functional Description 16-7is derived by the Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 from the selectedService Flavors 14-2, Service Features 14-3 and Service InternalInterfaces 12-4. For every one of the Service Flavors 14-2 and ServiceFeatures 14-3, there is a list in memory that defines the FunctionalBlocks that should be used. The Service Internal Interfaces 12-4 definethe hierarchy of Services that are needed (if any) to build a certainService 10-3. In the case of a Service that uses other Services, theAutomatic Data Model Generator 6-2 identifies the blocks that are usedby each Service. The Functional Description 16-7 consists of a series ofcheckmarks that identify which blocks are used and in which order (ifthere is a hierarchy).

The Configuration Parameters 16-8 is a list of all the Parameters thatare needed to implement the selected Flavor(s) and Features. Eachconfiguration Parameter is described by Name, Type and Value 16-12 whichare derived from the Service Configuration 14-4. Service Configuration14-4 depends on Service Features 14-3 and Service Flavors 14-2 (asexplained in FIGS. 15B-D). Type specifies the format of the parameterand whether the parameter is an input (i.e., a value needs to be enteredfor that Parameter) or an output (i.e., a value is generated anddisplayed for that Parameter by the Service). The Input Method 16-13 foreach Parameter specifies how (and by whom) the parameter value isentered. The value can be entered via a Service Integration Points 14-7,or via a Service Internal Interfaces 12-4, or via a Dashboard 6-8, or bythe End User 9-1 via the Application Client, or be derived by theBusiness Entity Data. The Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 goes overthe list of Configuration Parameters and determines the Input Method bylooking at Service Integration Points 14-7, and Service Presentation14-9 (note that Presentation Templates 15-1 defines which parameters canbe entered via the Dashboards 6-8). The Dynamic Property 16-14 defineswhen the value for the parameter is entered and when it can (or cannot)be changed. The Automatic Data Model Generator 6-2 determines theDynamic Property 16-14 by looking at Service Features 14-3. The DynamicProperty 16-14 of a parameter can be one of: a Settings where the valuehas to be entered before the Service 10-3 is presented to any end user(e.g., the address of a store for a Service that should be offered onlyin that store); or an Initialization where the value has to be enteredbefore the Service is presented to a specific End User 9-1 (e.g., thebarcode identifying a specific consumer in an Electronic Loyalty CardRun Time); or a value can be entered at any time (e.g., the datadescribing a new Promotion) The Dynamic Property 16-14 also defineswhether the value can be changed and when.

The Integration Point Parameters 16-9 are the Configuration Parameters16-8 that are entered via Service Integration Points 14-7. EachConfiguration Parameter 16-8 is described by its corresponding Name,Type and Value 16-17 that are derived from the Service Configuration14-4. Service Configuration 14-4 depends on Service Features 14-3 andService Flavors 1-2 (as explained in FIGS. 15B-D). The Integration PointParameters 16-9 has a corresponding Dynamic Property 16-19 is derived inthe same way as mentioned in Configuration Parameters 16-8. In theIntegration Point Parameters 16-9, the whole Integration Interface 16-18is stored in the Data Model 6-3. For example, all the fields and formatsof all the messages are in the Integration Interface 16-18 of theIntegration Point Parameters 16-9.

The Presentation Attributes 16-10 comprise the Page Relationships 16-20.The User Interface in the Application Client consists of a collection of“Pages” (the notion of Page is similar to the one in a website, eachPage presents a User Interface to one or more Services and the end usercan navigate from one Page to another). The Presentation Template 15-1in the Service Presentation 14-9 consists of one or more Pages. TheTemplate also defines the relationships among those Pages (e.g., thereis a button in a Page that, when tapped, leads to another Page). TheTemplate defines Primary Service Presentation Rules 16-21 (whichconsists of one or more Pages) and Highlighters (which typically aredisplayed in yet other Pages). Page Relationships 16-20 are derived fromthe Presentation Templates 15-1. The Page Relationships 16-20 are amatrix where the rows are the starting Pages and the columns are theending Pages and the values in the matrix describe how any two Pages areconnected. The relationship between Pages can be constant (i.e., thereis a button in a Page that always appears and leads to the other Page),or conditional (i.e., there is a button in a Page that appears only ifcertain conditions are verified). Navigation Conditions 16-22 areconditional relationships that correspond to Navigation Conditions 16-22in the Presentation Template 15-1. For each Navigation Condition 16-22,there is a Parameter that contains a Value that is used to compute theNavigation Condition at runtime (this is explained in detail in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/833,775 titled “Dynamic User InterfaceDelivery System” filed on Mar. 15, 2013 which is incorporated inreference in its entirety). What is relevant in this application is thatthe Navigation Condition 16-22 and the associated Parameter(s) areautomatically derived from the Presentation Templates 15-1 and stored inthe data model. The Presentation Templates 15-1 contain buttons, whichcan be associated with Navigation Conditions Presentation Rule. They arederived from the Presentation Templates 15-1. The Presentation Templates15-1 contain Widgets (e.g. Carousel or List Display), which can beassociated with Presentation Rules (for example Functional Description,use Carousel if Number_of_Promotions<10, use List Display ifNumber_of_Promotions>=10).

FIG. 17 illustrates the Automatic Application Generator 6-2 in moredetail (from Data Model to the output applications and features). TheData Model 6-3 consists of the Common Data Model 16-23 that couples tothe Server Data Model 16-15 and the Client Data Model 16-16. The outputof the Data Model 6-3 is applied to the Automatic Application Generator6-4. The Automatic Application Generator 6-4 comprises the AutomaticApplication Server Generator 17-1 coupled to a Server Data Model 16-15,the Automatic Protocol Generator 17-2 coupled to a Common Data Model16-23, the Automatic Dashboards Generator 17-3 coupled to a Common DataModel 16-23, the Automatic Client Generator 17-4 coupled to a ClientData Model 16-16, the Automatic Searchable Application RepresentationGenerator 17-5 coupled to a Common Data Model 16-23, the AutomaticBusiness Portal Generator 17-6 coupled to a Server Data Model 16-15 andthe Automatic Business Account Generator 17-7 coupled to a Server DataModel 16-15. The Application Components generated by the AutomaticApplication Generator 6-4 are shown on the right of FIG. 17 and includesthe Retailer Application Server 7-1 and the corresponding RetailerApplication Server Database 17-9, the Consumer Application Server 7-2and the corresponding Consumer Application Server Database 17-8, theClient-Server Protocols 6-7, Security 7-5, the Dashboards 6-8, theAnalytics 7-6 a, the Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6, theNon-Native Mobile Application Clients 7-3, the Non-Mobile and CloudApplication Clients 7-4, the Searchable Application Representation 7-8,the Business Portal 7-6 b and the Business Account and Business Profile7-7. FIG. 17 provides a portion of the figure in FIG. 7A withsignificantly more detail.

FIG. 18A illustrates a Server Data Model 16-15 coupled to the AutomaticApplication Server Generator 17-1. The output of this AutomaticApplication Server Generator generates the Application Servers 6-5 wherethe final output is the Retailer Application Server Logic 7-1, theRetailer Application Server Database 17-9, the Consumer ApplicationServer Logic 7-2, the Consumer Application Server Database 17-8 and theAutomatic Dashboard Generator 17-3. The Automatic Application ServerGenerator 17-1 contains Server Functional Blocks 18-8 and a ServerOrchestration Controller 18-7 that applies the final output to theServer Generator 18-6. The Server Functional Blocks 18-8 comprise theConfiguration Parameters 18-9, Input Output Parameters and Rules 18-10,Functional Rules 18-11, Navigational Rules 18-12 and a Dedicated Logic18-13. These are the components necessary to help the AutomaticApplication Server Generator 17-1 to generate its outputs. Inside theApplication Servers 6-5 which receives the output from the AutomaticApplication Server Generator 17-1 is the Application Server RuntimeLogic 9-14, the Application Server Backend Logic 9-16, a ServiceDatabase Server 9-15, Analytics-Server 9-18, Integration Data IngestionLogic 9-19, a Navigational Graph 9-20 and Service Policies and Rules9-17. The Server Validation Controller 18-3 uses the Validation Rules18-4 and the Consistency Rules 18-5 to help make this generationpossible and guarantee that the generated functionality is correct. Oneof the outputs of generates the Application Servers 6-5 is an input thatis used by the Automatic Dashboard Generator 17-3 which will bediscussed in detail shortly.

FIG. 18 B illustrates the Basic Server Functional Blocks 18-8 that areused to help the Automatic Application Server Generator 17-1 to generatethe Application Servers 6-5. The Basic Server Functional Blocks 18-8include boxes 18-21 through 18-77. These basic server functional blocksare the personalization management 18-21, Multi-Platform Synchronization18-22, Two-Way Communications 18-23, Image Recognition 18-24, ConsumerInput Editing 18-25, Search Mgmt 18-26, Event Chaining 18-27, HistoricalData Collection 18-28, Video Streaming 18-29, Computation Engine 18-30,Bar Coding Decoding 18-31, Book Keeping 18-32, Usage StatisticsCollection 18-33, Sorting 18-34, Behavioral Data Collection 18-35,Garbage Collection 18-36, Navigation Manager 18-37, Bar CodingGeneration 18-38, Redemptions 18-39, Likelihood Computation 18-40,Ranking 18-41, Accurate Location Integration 18-42, List Mgmt 18-43,Filtering 18-44, Behavioral Pattern Recognition 18-45, IdentityValidation 18-46, Security Mgmt 18-47, Data Mining Manager 18-48, SocialMedia Integration 18-49, Dictionaries and Ontologies 18-50, Logins18-51, Load Balancing 18-52, Business Profile Manager 18-53, ListEditing 18-54, Fraud Prevention 18-55, Content Mgmt 18-56, MobilePayment Integration 18-57, Correlation Manager 18-58, Notification Pres18-59, Keywording 18-60, Push Mechanism 18-61, Mobile Client Memory Mgmt18-62, Geo-Fencing 18-63, Item Pool Presentation 18-64, ContentIngestion Mgmt 18-65, Matching 18-66, Targeting 18-67, Alert Mgmt 18-68,Time Stamping 18-69, Location 18-70, Item Pool Mgmt 18-71, IntegrationPoint Mgmt 18-72, Preference Mgmt 18-73, Behavioral Tracking 18-74,Notifications 18-75, Scheduler 18-76 and Mobile Client Control 18-77.These blocks are used in FIG. 18A which is within the Basic ServerFunctional Block 18-8 and provide functions related to servers in termsof management, filtering, synchronization, statistics, likelihood, etc.

FIG. 19A illustrates the Common Data Model 16-23 which applies itsoutput to the Automatic Protocol Generator 17-2. The Automatic ProtocolGenerator 17-2 has two flows. The first one is from the Basic Messages19-2 that feeds its output to the Field Configurator 19-3, which in turnfeeds it output to the Protocol Message Builder 19-1. The Call FlowConfigurator 19-4 also feeds its output to the Protocol Message Builder19-1. The output of the Protocol Message Builder 19-1 determines theClient/Server Protocol 6-7. The second flow is from the Basic SecurityMethods 19-6 that applies its output to the Security Builder 19-5. Theoutput of the Security Builder 19-5 generates the Security 7-5. TheBasic Security Methods 19-6 consist of the Call Flow Generator 19-7 andthe Key Material Generator 19-8. This Automatic Protocol Generator 17-2generates the protocol for the client/server as well as ensuringsecurity.

In FIG. 19B shows examples of the Basic Message 19-2 and the componentsthe Basic Message contains. There is Push Notification Messages 19-10,an Analytics Upload Message 19-11 Data Query Messages 19-12,Synchronization Messages 19-13, Page Update Messages 19-14 andInitialization Messages 19-15.

FIG. 20A illustrates the internal components of the Automatic ClientGenerator 17-4. The Automatic Client Generator 17-4 uses the Client DataModel 16-16 to generate the Application Client 9-7 which is used tocreate the Native Client Translation and Generator 20-4. The NativeClient Translation and Generator 20-4 create the Native Mobile Client6-6, the Non-Mobile and Cloud Application Clients 7-4 and the Non-NativeMobile Application Clients 7-3. In the process of doing this there is aClient Validation Controller 20-13 that contains Validation Rules 20-1and Consistency Rules 20-2 to ensure that the client components aregenerated appropriately. Inside the Automatic Client Generator 17-4 isthe Native Client Functional Blocks 20-27 that feeds to a ClientOrchestration Controller 20-23 which creates the UI Generator Controller20-17 and the Master Client Generator 20-12. Inside the Native ClientFunctional Blocks 20-27 are the Configuration Parameters 20-26, InputOutput Parameters and Rules 20-25, the Functional Rules 20-24, theNavigation Rules 20-22 and a Dedicated Logic 20-21. Inside of the UIGenerator Controller 20-17 are the Presentation Template 15-1 asdescribed in FIG. 15J, the Widgets 20-19 and the Presentation Rules20-18. The Master Client Generator 20-12 contains the Logic Generator20-16 and the UI Generator 20-15. The Application Client 9-7 containsthe Client Foundation 20-5, the Client Surfaces 20-6, the FillableElements 20-7, the Actionable Elements 20-8, the Navigation Conditions20-9, the Analytics-Client 9-12, Service Database-Client 9-11, PageRelationships and Navigation Conditions. The Client Foundation 20-5 andthe Client Surfaces 20-6 are in the Application Client User Interface9-8. The Fillable Elements 20-7 and the Actionable Elements 20-8 are inthe Application Client Service Logic 9-9. The Application Client 9-7also comprises the Navigation Conditions 20-9, the Analytics-Client9-12, and the Service Database-Client 9-11. The Page Relationships andNavigation Conditions are in Application Flow 9-10. These blocks containall the functionality that is implemented in the Application Clients.The Application Client 9-7 contains the functionality that isimplemented in the Master Client (i.e., one of the Application Clientsselected as a reference Application Client). This functionality is thenprocessed by the Native Client Translation and Generator 20-4 togenerate the set of Native Mobile Application Clients 6-6, Non-Mobileand Cloud Application Clients 7-4, and Non-Native Mobile ApplicationClients 7-3.

Note that the Blocks inside the Native Client Functional Blocks 20-27 ofFIG. 20A are the same as the contents as the Blocks inside of the ServerFunctional Blocks 18-8 of FIG. 18A. These two blocks involving thenative Client and the Server are used to generate new functionality ofServices 10-3 from a list of Basic Functional Blocks.

In FIG. 20A, the Automatic Client Generator 17-4 comprises the NativeClient Functional Blocks 20-27 and the Widgets 20-19. In FIG. 20B, theNative Client Functional Block 20-27 contains blocks 20-43 through 20-67which are involved with matching, filtering, client-servercommunications, managing and locations. These blocks include filtering20-43, matching 20-45, sorting 20-47, Condition Computation 20-48,Analytics Data Collection 20-49, Push Notification Handler 20-50, ServerData Queries 20-51, Consumer Input 20-52, Client Update Manager 20-53,Client Server Communication 20-54, Mobile Client Offline Behavior 20-55,Garbage Collection 20-56, Social Media Integration 20-57, Geo-Fencing20-59, Bar Code Processing 20-59, Device Manager 20-60, Client StorageManager 20-61, Navigation Manager 20-62, User Interface Manager 20-63,Preferences 20-64, Media Players 20-65, Device Specific Functions 20-66and Native Location Services 20-67. In FIG. 20B, the Widgets 20-19 arealso indicated and provide tables, overlays, navigation, grids andcalendars. These comprise the blocks 20-30 through 20-42. These blocksare the Carousel Horizontal 20-30, Content Display 20-31, Table 20-32,Hierarchical List 20-33, Carousel Vertical 20-34, Input Editor 20-35,Dialog 20-36, Grid 20-37, Balloon 20-38, Calendar 20-39, Overlay 20-40,Multi-Step Form 20-41 and Hierarchical Navigation 20-42.

FIG. 21 illustrates the Automatic Dashboard Generator 17-3 which usesthe Common Data Model 16-23 to generate the Dashboards 6-8. TheAutomatic Dashboard Generator 17-3 contains a Dashboard Widget 21-3which feeds into a Dashboard Generator Controller 21-4. The output ofthe Dashboard Generator Controller 21-4 and the output of the DashboardUI Generator Controller 21-5 are applied to the Dashboard Generator21-6. The output of the Dashboard Generator 21-6 generates theDashboards 6-8. At all times, the Dashboard Validation Controller 21-2uses the Validation Rules 21-7 and Consistency Rules 21-8 to ensure thatthe Dashboards 6-8 are generated correctly.

FIG. 22A illustrates the apparatus of the Single System SolutionApplication Server or Single Application Server 22-2. The SingleApplication Server contains the Automatic Creation Application Server22-3 with a corresponding Single System Solution Automatic CreationDatabase or Single Automatic Creation Database 22-4. There is only oneof these single application servers in the System Solution apparatus.However, each of the Business Entities coupled to the System Solutioncomprises the components within the dotted box 22-1. There is a ConsumerApplication Server 7-2 and a corresponding Consumer Application ServerDatabase 17-8 and a Retailer Application Server 7-1 with itscorresponding Retailer Application Server Database 17-9. A Client-ServerProtocol 6-7 communicates in between the servers and the Native MobileApplication Clients 6-6, the Non-Native Mobile Application Clients 7-3and Other Application Clients 22-5. The Retailer Application Server 7-1contains a Searchable Application Representation 7-8 and a BusinessPortal 7-6 b. The Retailer Application Server 7-1 is connected to theDashboards 6-8.

FIG. 22B illustrates a System Solution 22-15 coupled to a BusinessEntity 5-1. At least one of System Solution Computing devices 22-7 andat least one System Solution servers 22-2 that comprises Server-A 22-9through Server-Z 22-10 is coupled to the Business Entity 5-1 though theInternet 1-3. The Automatic Creation Application Server 22-3 with acorresponding Automatic Creation Database 22-4 is a sub-set of theserver bank 22-2. It is understood that the Applications 2-14 running onthe OS 2-13 of the Client Devices 1-2 a, 1-2 b, and 1-2 c in ClientDevices 22-16 are generated by the block 22-2 under the control of theSystem Solution 22-15. The System Solution servers 22-2 can also belocated in the Cloud, in the vicinity of the Computing devices 22-7 or acombination of any therein. The System Solution 22-15 couples to theInternet via all interconnects 22-11, 22-14, 2-3, 22-13, 22-12 and 2-2.This interconnection can be a wireline or wireless and is part of theCommunication network. The System Solution 22-15 creates through theInternet 1-3 Application servers, appropriate Server/client protocols,Databases Server for the Business Entities, Dashboards, securityinsurances, etc., with the server bank 2-4 that comprises Server-0 2-11through server-N 2-12 via interconnect 2-3. The generated Applicationsfor Native or Non-Native Clients are applied to Client Devices 1-2 a viainterconnect 2-2, Client Device 1-2 b via interconnect 22-12 and ClientDevice 1-2 c via interconnect 22-13. These Client Devices can be mobile,non-mobile or in the Cloud and have a software and hardware similar tothat explained in FIG. 2A. For the latter, some of the application issplit between the Cloud and the Client Device. At all times, the SystemSolution 22-15 is monitoring the interactions between the ClientsDevices and the Application servers, appropriate Server/clientprotocols, Databases Server for the Business Entities, Dashboards,security insurances, etc. via the interconnects to and between theInternet 1-3.

The automatically generated Applications and updated Applications areboth generated in FIG. 22B. The generated Applications apply to Nativeas well as non-Native devices. All desired Services 10-3 are alsoincluded in the automatically generated Applications. The updatedApplications may be generated by the Business Entity through the use ofthe Dashboard 6-8 provided by the System Solution 22-15 allowing theBusiness Entity 5-1 to change a portion of the application or for theDashboard 6-8 under the control of the System Solution 22-15 to alterthe entire “look.” For the updated Applications there may be no need tore-apply to the Application store 3-5 for approval.

Finally, it is understood that the above descriptions are onlyillustrative of the principle of the current invention. Variousalterations, improvements, and modifications will occur and are intendedto be suggested hereby, and are within the spirit and scope of theinvention. This invention can, however, be embodied in many differentforms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments setforth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that thedisclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey thescope of the invention to those skilled in the arts. It is understoodthat the various embodiments of the invention, although different, arenot mutually exclusive. In accordance with these principles, thoseskilled in the art can devise numerous modifications without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, In addition, anetwork and a portable system can exchange information wirelessly byusing communication techniques such as Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM), Ultra Wide Band (UWB), Wi-Fi, WiGig, Bluetooth, etc. The networkcan comprise the phone network, IP (Internet protocol) network, LocalArea Network (LAN), ad hoc networks, local routers and even otherportable systems. In addition, the term “Mobile Client Device” can beused for mobile devices such as cellphone, tablets, etc. “Non-MobileClient Device” can be used for non-mobile devices such as desktops.“Cloud Client Device” can be used for the device formed in the Cloud. Atother instants the term “Client Device” can imply either the “MobileClient Device,” “Non-Mobile Client Device” or “Cloud Client Device.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of automatically generating amulti-platform application for a mobile device, the method comprising:automatically generating, by a management system, a data model based ona service representation, the service representation being a high-levelrepresentation of one or more services implemented by the multi-platformapplication; automatically generating, by the management system, a newlycreated application comprising a set of application components based onthe data model, the set of application components comprising anapplication client of which at least a portion of the application clientis configured to run on the mobile device, an application server, aclient-server protocol and a dashboard that is generated by a dashboardgenerator, wherein the management system generates an input to thedashboard generator that generates the dashboard, wherein the dashboardcomprises fillable entries that are accessible via a web browser ormobile interface; accessing, by a user, the fillable entries in thedashboard for adding, deleting, or modifying content, features andservices contained in the set of application components; generating anupdated set of application components based on the accessing thedashboard; and automatically replacing the set of application componentswith the updated set of application components.